


Seeing-eye Jack

by PoisonJack



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Caretaking, Fainting, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, General au, M/M, Now with 20percent more indulgent tropes!, jack acts like he doesn't care but he hovers like a mother hen ahaha, theyre both so damn stubborn but man they were made for each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-09-19 15:24:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17004201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PoisonJack/pseuds/PoisonJack
Summary: Stress from work puts extreme pressure on Rhys' optic nerve, so Jack takes care of and helps Rhys-- in his Jack-esque way- to get around.From a request on tumblr:Don't know how you'll feel about this one, but... after some kind of tech malfunction, Rhys becomes temporarily blind in both eyes, and has to depend on Jack to make sure he doesn't walk into walls and shit. Feel free to make it as angsty and/or as fluffy as you want. Include some sensory deprivation-type sex, even?





	Seeing-eye Jack

**Author's Note:**

> These two really are a match made in heaven haha idiots

Rhys had been rubbing at his face uncomfortably for most of the day. He’d had an on-going headache all week that he was certain was a byproduct of too much caffeine and not enough sleep. But the painkillers weren’t working today and the pressure in his head was simply throbbing. He wondered if maybe Vaughn wasn’t right, and he should use some of his vacation days.

“Can you get me some more coffee, pumpkin?” Jack asked as he threw back the remaining contents of his mug.

“Sure,” the PA told him, getting up to fetch the mug from Jack while the CEO continued typing away at whatever he was working on.

Jack never got more coffee, as bringing it back from the little kitchenette Rhys had dropped it. Ceramic and hot coffee went shattering and spattering everywhere as the younger man had jerked as if he’d been hit mid-stride. He was gripping his head in extreme pain, not even registering properly what was happening, and only seconds later he collapsed.

When he woke, Jack was by his side, fingers intertwined with his own. He didn’t know where he was, knew he was in a bed. Could smell sterile chemicals and hear the gentle whir and hum of machines. His eyes were open, blinking rapidly in a total panic. He couldn’t see. He couldn’t see anything.

He removed his hand from Jack’s to immediately rub at his face, heels of his palms in his eyes as if he could rub the blindness away. But nothing happened. He let out a fearful whine as Jack’s fingers clasped around a wrist bringing his hands away from his eyes.

“You need to take better care of those expensive cybernetics,” Jack’s voice came, thumb stroking the back of the younger man’s hand.

“Jack…I- I can’t see.”

“Yeah, figured as much.”

“At _all_ ,” he elaborated with a rising note of panic.

“Yep.” Jack hissed as Rhys was squeezing his hand painfully tight. “Hey calm down there kitten. You’ll short circuit something else.”

“ _Why can’t I see?_!”

“Your cybernetics were putting pressure on your optic nerve, kiddo. Things must’ve rattled around in that head of yours lately. You won’t see again ‘til it’s fixed.”

Rhys swallowed heavily as he listened to the somewhat amused tone in Jack’s voice. He didn’t think there was anything slightly funny about the situation. “I can’t _see,_ Jack.”

“I _know_ , Rhys.”

“Am I… Do I need surgery again?”

“What? Nah kiddo, you just need a little stress relief,” Jack told him confidently. “But I’ve had cybernetics up here to take a look at things. They ran diagnostics and all that shit from your port. Waiting to hear back.”

Rhys was breathing hard with adrenaline, his mind buzzing. Things were rattled around? Did something in his implants come loose? What would happen if things didn’t right themselves? If his vision _didn’t_ come back? He didn’t think Jack would keep him on as his PA, fucking or no fucking. 

Oh god, they’d still _fuck_ wouldn’t they? His vision or lack thereof shouldn’t affect Jack wanting him, would it? _Shit shit shit._

“What are you getting worked up about over there, kitten?” Jack’s concerned voice came to him as he still calmly stroked at Rhys’ palm.

“…What if it doesn’t come back?”

He couldn’t see Jack shrug, but he heard the sigh and shuffle of clothes. “We’ll figure something out. I wouldn’t worry about that though, pumpkin. It’ll come back.”

“But what if it _doesn’t_?”

“Guess I’ll need to get my hot little PA some new training then so you can still do your job,” Jack said with amusement and what was definitely teasing to his voice. “You want a seeing-eye skag, Rhysie?”

“Oh god am I going to need one?” Rhys’ voice sounded particularly panicked even to his own ears, and Jack’s hand squeezed his own firmly.

“Hey, I’m messing with you, kiddo. Just teasing,” the older man said, and Rhys wished he could see the expression on Jack’s face that went with that tone. “Maybe you blew a fuse or it was just stress. Let’s wait to actually see what cybernetics has figured out before we start making decisions on stuff, hm?”

“… _Can_ I get surgery to fix it? If that’s what it needs? They should be able to rewire me if it’s that,” he quickly posed.

“I’m gonna have the doctors pump you full of thorazine if you don’t calm down,” Jack told him, still stroking his thumb rhythmically about Rhys’ skin. “Calm down, cupcake. You’re gonna be fine.”

–

Jack took Rhys home with him despite the younger man’s affirmations that he could take care of himself. Rhys demanded Jack take him seriously when he swore he could still do everything the man needed, and Jack just laughed and told him he probably could even take a piss by himself, to which Rhys told him to shut up.

“You couldn’t even find your way out of the hospital room, Rhysie,” Jack told him.

“I was flustered!” the younger man affirmed as he held on to Jack arm in arm.

“The doctors swear it’s just stress, and I don’t know what kind of weird porn you look at on that eye of yours when you’re supposed to be working but cybernetics is still pouring over the data–”

“I do not look at porn on my echoeye!”

“–so until they get back to us I’m going to take care of you, okay pumpkin? Think of it like a mini vacation.”

Rhys wasn’t so sure about that. Being as how it was _him_ that primarily took care of the older man– making sure he ate lunch and bringing him coffee and telling him to go home or take a nap if he’d been working too hard- and he wasn’t sure if he wouldn’t end up like the dead houseplant on Jack’s desk that Rhys had gotten him to “liven up the place”. Now it was deadening up the place.

“I don’t care for that look on your face, princess,” Jack told the younger man as Rhys contemplated the type of “care” he’d be receiving.

“I can take care of myself, Jack,” Rhys told the CEO as they walked together. 

“Can you now?” Jack said dismissively, rankling the younger man.

“Yes I can!”

Jack stopped suddenly, surprising Rhys. “Alright then. Prove it. Where are we right now?”

“Whe– I haven’t been paying attention to that!” Rhys admitted with a lot more ire than someone in his position should’ve. Jack’s tone made him openly frown.

“We’re in the eastern part of 108th floor. Shopping district backhalls. You know where that is?”

Rhys knew he was probably pouting, but he didn’t care for Jack’s smug tone. “Yes, I know where that is,” he replied sarcastically. And with those words leaving his mouth, Jack slipped his arm from the younger man and took a step back.

“Fine then. Have at it kitten.”

A fine creeping fear went up Rhys’ spine as he now lost his lifeline, left in the dark to navigate by himself. But he was stubborn and wouldn’t admit that. “Fine. I’ve got this.”

“Fine. See you later, kiddo.”

Rhys followed the sound of Jack’s retreating footsteps with his ears, expecting them to stop prematurely or for Jack to do that stupid ‘pretend you’re getting farther away’ footsteps bullshit. He panicked as they actually retreated until he could hear him no more, cocking his head to try to pick up the most minute of sounds, but nothing. Jack had _actually_ left him. That _asshole_. 

He was left alone in the generally unused backways of Helios that Jack frequented to get around the station so fast. There wasn’t much by way of landmarks back here, just big yellow floor numbers and arrows painted on the walls that he could no longer read. He reached out until he found one of the walls, and leaned against it trying to think. His arms were crossed petulantly, feeling totally useless and helpless to boot. He was trying to quell the rising panic in his chest as he thought.

There was usually an elevator at the very end of these halls; one that would let out into a general elevator hall. If he could find that….he could _probably_ find his way to the housing sector and back to his apartment.

With his plan in mind, Rhys kept his hand along the wall as a guideline, walking slowly as he kept telling himself he could do this; he didn’t have to be afraid; Jack was still an asshole.

–

Thirty minutes later Rhys had made it to the end of the hall, certain the elevator should be there, but there was nothing where he thought it should be as he groped in the dark. He’d found a door which he supposed was a janitor’s closet, mops and buckets surprising him as he backed out of there. The surrounding walls were absent any switches or hum of machinery that might give him an inkling of just where he was. He’d gotten completely lost. That must be it. Was he confusing floor 108 with floor 119? They looked similar in his mind…Shit. 

He carefully took a seat on the floor, crossing his legs and rubbing his hands into his eyes in frustration as he hung his head. He felt behind himself until he backed up against a wall, sitting there helpless and at a loss of what to do. If he let out a stubborn, frustrated whimper, then that was his own business. He felt stupid and awful and tired and he just wanted to go home.

It was ten minutes after that that a frustrated sigh startled the crap out of him, followed by shuffling crowding into his immediate space. He was half sprawled on the floor, heart racing as Jack’s warm hand was placed on his thigh. “You done now, princess?”

Rhys was too relieved to be ashamed of the sound that left him as he felt his way to Jack’s arms, the older man enveloping him and pulling the lankier man up beside him. The familiarity of Jack’s smell and clothes and the firm grip with which he held the younger man was comforting beyond belief. The darkness was scary, yes, but being alone in it was something he admitted that maybe he wasn’t ready to completely delve in to by himself.

“I was getting real bored watching you, kitten,” Jack told him as he buried his face in the younger man’s neck. “The broom closet was funny though.”

“Were you stalking me like a creeper?” Rhys asked, his voice more somber than his accusation, though he forced a relieved little laugh.

“Yep. I’ve been here the whole time. You almost tripped over me even.”

Rhys snorted as he held himself close to the CEO. “Never would have thought someone like you could stay that quiet for so long.”

“Blow me,” Jack said dismissively, kissing his neck before looping his arm back around the younger man’s. “Now let’s go home.”

–

Having Jack help him around made things a lot less scary than they could have been.

Rhys knew the older man’s penthouse layout fairly well. As far as moving around went, it might have been simpler and easier for him to stay in his own, smaller apartment with less space to navigate, but having Jack with him meant he washed his hair with shampoo and not bubble bath, and ate better food than whatever microwaveable dinners Rhys had in his freezer.

Jack had also quelled the fear that he wouldn’t want Rhys anymore if the man’s eyesight didn’t return.

“Sometimes I forget that not everyone is as smart as me,” Jack said smugly, and Rhys shot a dirty look in the direction of his voice as they lay in bed together. “You don’t need your eyes to work to still be pretty, pumpkin. Or a fantastic lay,” the older man said with a dirty chuckle that got a scoff from the younger man. “Quit worrying about stupid shit. That was literally the doctor’s orders. Cybernetics’ too.”

Rhys had cuddled up to the older man as Jack pulled him into his arms, laughing at the expression on Rhys’ face as he pouted at him with unfocused eyes. The CEO had then kissed him to sleep and told him not to worry about anything. It was hard to do, but with Jack so adamant that his sight would come back and things wouldn’t change even if it didn’t, Rhys found he was able to relax just a little bit more.

–

It was a week after general rest and a whole lot of unnecessary pampering that his eyesight began to come back in tiny increments. He had to take a trip back to cybernetics to have things get a hard reboot (which Jack was making jokes about the younger man frankly didn’t appreciate) and then overall checkup with doctors including scans and bloodwork. He was healthy, they said, but please continue whatever it was they were doing. Jack had grinned and informed the doctor that it was orgasms. Lots and lots of orgasms. He had to blow Rhys that night to get forgiveness for that little overshare.

Overall it took an entire month before his eyesight was completely back to one-hundred percent. Once it was, though, Rhys had to admit that he _liked_ how close they’d been, and all the time they’d been sharing together. He didn’t necessarily want to be apart from the CEO again if he could help it. Apparently, Jack felt the same way.

The older man had snuck up behind Rhys with a silky, no doubt expensive eye mask which he had slipped over the younger man’s eyes before Rhys could bring any opposition.

“Soooo….I was thinking we can have a little fun tonight for old time’s sake,” Jack proposed as he ran palms down the younger man’s front and kissed at his neck. 

Rhys snickered as he left the mask in place and placed his palms over the back of Jack’s own. “It is one of the only things I miss from the whole not-seeing experience,” Rhys told him with a smirk. 

Jack moved from behind the chair to swivel it and lean down in front of the younger man as Rhys lifted the mask to look at the CEO, mouth quirked in a grin. “The only thing?”

Rhys smirked at him and leaned forward to press his mouth against Jack’s own, the older man grinning against him as he pulled Rhys up to deepen the kiss. 

The younger man ended up spending most nights with the CEO after that.

**Author's Note:**

> Their cuteness is gross i cant believe i wrote this llolololo
> 
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> 
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